Vegan Joe’s

One of the things I have been focusing on while recovering from my flu, especially now that I can eat, is replenishing my body with whole foods. Having seen a few vegan Sloppy Joe recipes around the blog world. including Veganomicon’s Snobby Joe recipe, and with an abundance of dried lentils and beans in the house, I decided to bust out the slow cooker for my own version of a Sloppy Joe.

Working from home is amazing. I was able to start my recipe out by soaking two cups each of yellow lentils and black beans two times before actually starting them in the slow cooker.

While they soaked the second time, I mixed up a flavorful sauce that included 1/4 cup organic maple syrup, a tablespoon mustard, and a can of tomato paste.

I also pureed 1/2 a Vidalia onion, two habanero peppers, and four cloves of garlic into a nice paste.

When it was time to get cookin’ I threw all of the ingredients in my slow cooker. The beans and lentils were added to a few cups of water, plus the sauce and veggies. I mixed it thoroughly, then put the lid on and cooked on high for four hours, checking to make sure there was enough liquid to soften the lentils and the beans.

Before I left for a night of fun blogger events, I put the slow cooker on warm and left whole wheat rolls next to it for my hubby. I also left instructions that there was potato salad and cabbage slaw in the fridge; the slaw recipe is amazing, and I will be able to share it in a few weeks when it is launched in a new recipe app.

I decided to forego the roll when I got home, eating two bowls of the Sloppy Joe with the spicy slaw. The contrast between cold and warm, crunchy and soft, spicy and somewhat sweet was perfection. Though not at all fancy or complicated, this meal really “got” me. I could eat it again and again.

So I had another bowl

As foodies I am sure we all feel the pressure to eat really interesting things at times. What is your favorite super simple dish?

The first time I covered them with just enough water to cover the top. I checked about an hour later, and all of the water was soaked up! So I covered them again and left them for another hour. I think you can actually throw the dried beans in the slow cooker with even more water and let them plump up in there too, but I have a lot of time on my hands these days

You know any bean and lentil recipe will be right up my alley. I love this! Even though it’s simple I’d say it’s very interesting. i love that you pureed the onion first. I’ve never done that before. I am definitely bookmarking this and trying it out.

I used to make a really quick dinner with a can of diced tomatoes, a can of white beans, sage, thyme and garlic….just saute the garlic in some olive oil, dump the rest of the stuff in a pot until simmering. It’s a really satisfying light meal.